


A New Start

by spockothyprime



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-14
Updated: 2019-03-14
Packaged: 2019-11-18 02:54:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18111803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spockothyprime/pseuds/spockothyprime
Summary: The first few months back at the compound are tense.Tony spends a lot of time resting, which isn’t his strong suit. But with Rhodey and Bruce hovering over his shoulder, he doesn’t have a choice. There are new people- a raccoon that mainly seems to follow Thor around and a woman named Carol, who Tony thinks he could be friends with- and of course, old friends.





	A New Start

The first few months back at the compound are tense.

Tony spends a lot of time resting, which isn’t his strong suit. But with Rhodey and Bruce hovering over his shoulder, he doesn’t have a choice. There are new people- a raccoon that mainly seems to follow Thor around and a woman named Carol, who Tony thinks he could be friends with- and of course, old friends.

Natasha doesn’t avoid him, that’s never been her style. But there’s a distance between them, one that Tony doesn’t quite know how to cross. It’s finally when he stumbles into the common room past midnight, feeling like he’s about to crawl out of his skin, that things shift. She’s sitting on the couch, Say Yes to the Dress playing on the television. He stops in the doorway, uncertain of whether or not he’ll be welcome. It used to be their thing, watching dumb TV shows on nights when neither of them could sleep.

“Bridesmaids?” He finally asks and she only nods, holding up part of the blanket for him to join her. They don’t talk like before, but they do sit together. It’s a start.

With Clint, it’s even less of a production. Natasha brings him home just a little after that and Tony runs into him in the hallway. Clint looks old, much older than he should have after just a few years, and Tony doesn’t have to ask to know his family didn’t make it.

“Stark.” Clint’s voice is hollow and quiet. 

“Legolas.” The nickname slips out without a thought and for a moment, a hint of a smile appears on Clint’s face. It’s gone in an instant and the two of them continue on their way, but Tony knows that all’s been forgiven.

But of course, there’s someone else at the compound. Someone that doesn’t really fall under friend or enemy or any other term. Someone who definitely is avoiding Tony and has been since Tony crash landed a spaceship on the front lawn. 

Steve.

Tony isn’t quite sure what to do about it. On one hand, it gives him a sick kind of satisfaction to see Steve is uncomfortable around him. On the other hand, it also just makes him sick. He’s barely even seen Steve since he landed, barely remembers it, but he does recall soft hands holding him up. Anguished blue eyes staring down at him as Tony drifted in and out of consciousness, a desperate voice whispering his name. Those flashes of memory just make Tony crazier, because they mean Steve does care. And he’s probably avoiding him out of some misguided sort of kindness, which is irritating. 

All in all, Tony isn’t sure what he wants. So he goes along with it. He spends time with Rhodey and gets to know Carol. He catches up with Bruce and picks up on something between him and Thor and teases Bruce about it. He patches things up with Natasha and relearns his banter with Clint. And it’s not like he never sees Steve. There are moments. Passing each other in the hallway, the two of them sitting as far apart as they can when the team gathers for meetings. But he lets the tension between them build, which is why he shouldn’t have been as surprised when it came to a boil.

It’s a quiet night at the compound. Tony’s being allowed back in the lab, his injuries healed and his frame filled out. But he’s still being kicked out by Bruce after just a few hours, which he usually argues with but today doesn’t have the strength. He’s tired and cranky, kept up by nightmares the night before. So after Bruce shoos him out of the lab and locks the door, Tony goes to the kitchen to find something to drink. His skin itches and he fidgets, going for a bottle of water instead of the scotch he desperately wants. The last thing he wants is for Steve to walk through the door, so of course that’s what happens.

Steve looks just as unpleasantly surprised to see him and he stands there for a few seconds, their eyes locked, looking as though he wants to turn and run out the door. But then he must recognize something in Tony and he softens, guarded expression dropping to reveal concern. 

“Tony?” His voice is soft, gentle, and it makes Tony want to rip his own hair out and cry. “What’s wrong?” He approaches slowly, his hands held up slightly as though he’s trying to make himself as nonthreatening as possible.

“What, suddenly you care?” Tony snaps, too tired and strung out to care about how angry he sounds.

Hurt passes across Steve’s face and he stops walking, just a foot of space between them. It’s closer than they’ve been in months and Tony imagines he can almost feel the heat coming off of Steve. “I’ve always cared. Tony, maybe I should get-”

“Shut up.” Steve complies and Tony runs a hand through his hair. “Just shut up. You don’t care.”

“But I do.” Steve’s voice is earnest and Tony wants to weep, memories of crashed spaceships and gentle hands and a familiar figure running next to him as a stretcher carries him to medical flitting through his brain. “I do care.”

There’s so much Tony wants to say to that. No you don’t. If you did, you would have come home. You would have been honest. You wouldn’t have left me. But none of that comes out. Instead, Tony lunges forward and pulls Steve down into a hard kiss. Steve is still for a moment and Tony thinks he’s made a mistake, but then he’s kissing back and Tony melts. 

After that, it’s all kind of a blur. Tony gets lifted up onto the kitchen counter at one point, then carried back to his bedroom- their old bedroom. It’s hard and fast, but also slow and intimate at points. And it’s so easy, falling back into each other. As though it hadn’t been years since they touched this way. Steve takes control at some point and Tony lets him, squirming into and away from Steve’s mouth as it kisses along his skin.

Steve pauses when he notices the chain around Tony’s neck, containing his dogtags and Tony’s engagement ring. Then he surges up, kissing Tony hard on the mouth before continuing his journey down Tony’s body. 

When they’re finally rocking together, Tony begins to cry. It’s everything he’s been missing and something inside him cracks open, his emotions spilling out. Steve is there to kiss him, wipe his tears away gently as he thrusts into Tony slowly. It’s angry and sad at first but that gives way to love, deep and unrelenting. Love that never really went away, try as Tony did to make it.

It’s over too quickly. Steve gets up and Tony is terrified he’s going to leave him there, emotional and raw. But Steve just goes to the bathroom and gets a cloth to wipe them clean. He lies back down and Tony wraps himself around Steve, so tightly that he’s unsure where Steve stops and he begins. The itching under his skin has subsided and Tony presses his face into Steve’s chest, unable to say anything for the moment.

“Stay?” Tony whispers, voice barely audible.

“Always.” Steve murmurs, his arms tightening around Tony a little. “I promise.” 

It’s not everything. Tony knows that one night won’t fix everything and they’ll have to talk in the morning, about what this means. But he tries not to think of that and instead nuzzles closer to Steve. They can’t go back, they can’t change what they’ve done. The lies and mistakes and the hurt, they’re all still there. But maybe, just maybe, they can start over. Build something new out of the rubble they left behind. It’s that thought that helps him drift off to sleep, secure in the knowledge Steve would still be there when he woke up. They would figure this out. They had to, for both of their sakes.

**Author's Note:**

> On Tumblr as spockothyprime, please come yell at me about Stevetony


End file.
